Week 28: Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness

Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness
My views on indigenous knowledge and cultural responsive pedagogy.

Being culturally responsive is acknowledging others cultures , religions and beliefs. Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning (Ladson-Billings,1994).

According to Ladson-Billings, G. (1994), some characteristics of culturally responsive teaching are:

1. Positive perspectives on parents and families
2. Communication of high expectations
3. Learning within the context of culture
4. Student-centered instruction
5. Culturally mediated instruction
6. Reshaping the curriculum
7. Teacher as facilitator

Definition of culturally responsive according to wikipeida; Culturally relevant or responsive teaching is a pedagogy grounded in teachers' displaying cultural competence: skill at teaching in a cross-cultural or multicultural setting. They enable each student to relate course content to his or her cultural context.

School vision, mission, and core values

Within the school I work, this year we employed a teacher to develop a maori curriculum for our school. One of the purposes of this was to develop 'Te Reo Maori across the school as well as our Maori students and Whanu feeling part of our school community. By developing and acknowledging our maori students though their own cultural we are hoping to lift their achievement. Through this development we are  acknowledge the diversity of our communities cultural background and unique position. As a school we want to know who our Māori learners are in the wider context of school and home, in order to develop holistic, authentic and inclusive learning goals for all our learners. We are working towards building stronger relationships with our Maori community. We have been developing programs to support Te Reo and our maori students. A focus this year is also developing the language across our staff to become confident uses of Te Reo Maori. According to Ka Hikitia.

'When the vision is realised, all Māori students will:

•  have their identity, language and culture valued and included in  teaching and  learning in ways that support them to engage and achieve success
•  know their potential and feel  supported to set goals and take action to enjoy success have experienced teaching and  learning that is relevant, engaging, rewarding and positive 
• have gained the skills, knowledge  and qualifications they need to achieve success in Te Reo Māori, New Zealand and the wider world' 

As a school we are working together to build our own understanding and knowledge around our Maori learners and looking at how we can support them t=in meaning ways to achieve their own goals. 

This year we have change d our class names and they have been given a Maori name. We were also shared what each of the names meant. These were also shared with the students.

E.G. He Puna Kawenga - Room 14 Audio

“Kawenga” describes the embedded practices, knowledge and skills from one’s learning journey which they take with them in preparation of greater things.

He Puna Tutuki - Room 15 Audio

“Tutuki” describes the completion of something, accomplishment of something and the achievements made or milestones reached.

Area to work on:

As a school we have come a long way this year in developing Cultural responsiveness within our school, but we still have a long one to go. One of the areas I believe that still needs  development would be school wide activities. Even though we do have a few such as  school wide assembly each week and once a term house meetings. We also have a school wide cross country.  Some classes work together (buddy classes) and this is a good way to build relationships between teachers and different students as well as student & student relationships. This year the school has reset up a parents group and they have just organised a puanga celebrations for the school community. 

We have only started this journey this year. Our charter reflects the vision and ideas the school has. At times things can be difficult to implement due to changes of staff and after reflection of what is working and what needs improving.

References:

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing Co.

Class notes

Culture is not merely a question of ethnicity, but also beliefs, spirituality, age, gender, and sexual orientation.(Shaw, White & Deed, 2013, p. 6-7). As we operate in the society, we interpret the world and interact with others through our cultural lens. More often that it should be, we make the assumptions towards those who we consider are different from our own cultural background.  

Aotearoa New Zealand Today

Today Aotearoa New Zealand is often viewed as a Pasifikanation, and is increasingly culturally diverse. Those of European origin only make up 67 percent of the population. Maori comprise 14.6 percent with the remainder being made up largely of Pasifika nations (6.9 percent), Asians (9.2 percent) and various others (1.7 percent) (Findsen, 2012). The fact that this is now a multicultural society places Māori, as Tāngata Whenua (people of the land) as possibly in an even more marginalised position.

Although it was hard fought, and not fully recognised until the 1970s, Aotearoa New Zealand is now a bicultural nation within which resides a multicultural society.

Culturally responsive teaching practice

Culture is not exclusive to race and/or ethnicity. It also refers the unique features of a community; its demographic makeup, including location, age, gender, language/s spoken, local history, industry and economics.